A season to plant

[Aida]

This life of grace is an exciting life. For years, I struggled as a believer and then a number of years ago, God started to turn my spiritual life upside down. The beginning stages were the most difficult of my life and I honestly thought I’d never make it. However, even in the difficult times, God was there making himself real. As the initial feelings of disorientation disappeared, I experienced an excitement and joy that I wanted to share.

I think all of us who are growing and getting established in grace have experienced a desire to see people set free. However, in our excitement, we can easily try to push them beyond where they are ready to go. It’s like trying to feed a newborn baby a steak and a baked potato. Its little digestive system is not ready for adult food and it’ll choke. If we continue to try to feed it this type of food, it’ll choke the life out of the child.

Ecclesiastes talks about there being a season for everything. There’s a season for planting and a season for harvest. Earlier this week, we had a rather nice snowfall. The last time we remembered having that much snow was 6 years ago. The snow was beautiful but this wasn’t the time for me to go out into the yard and try to plant watermelon seeds. If I expect a harvest, I have to wait for the right season and so it is with sharing this message of grace and freedom.

I believe we need to have ears to hear and eyes to see where each person is on their journey. Perhaps they can only handle a tiny morsel at this time. Maybe, they can’t handle anything. If that’s the case, sometimes it’s best to say nothing and to allow God to get them ready. He knows when it’s harvest time and he’ll send them the message at the right time by the right messenger. If, we’re not willing to wait, I believe we can cause a lot of hurt and make it more difficult for others to receive the message at the right season.